moved:
Motion No. 1
That the long title of Bill C-202 be replaced with the following:
"An Act respecting a National Organ Donor Month in Canada"
Motion No. 2
That Bill C-202, in Clause 1, be amended by replacing line 10 on page 1 with the following:
"Organ Donor Month Act."
Motion No. 3
That Bill C-202, in Clause 2, be amended by replacing lines 11 to 13 on page 1 with the following:
"2. Throughout Canada, in each and every year, the month of April shall be known under the name of "National Organ Donor Month"."
Mr. Speaker, I am particularly pleased to speak today to Bill C-202, and therefore on the amendments I tabled with a view to instituting a national organ donor month.
When I spoke in April, I told you a story from real life. I feel it would be extremely appropriate to repeat it here, for I believe it offers an exceptional illustration of how reality has changed in the past 30 years.
We are back in 1959, when you were far younger, Mr. Speaker, and I was younger too, but a little older than you. I was about to graduate from nursing school. Pierrette was a patient of mine. She was 15 years old and had been sick since about the age of three or four. She was suffering from kidney failure.
In those days, there was no question of hemodialysis and kidney transplants. They were not even considered yet. Pierrette, at 15, was dying. All she wanted was to sleep but, one night, she went to sleep, never to wake up again.
In those days, medical science threw up its hands in cases like Pierrette's. All of us felt this was terribly unfair. Science has made giant strides since.
Over the course of almost 30 years of professional life entirely dedicated to paediatric care, I finally saw hope rekindled in the hearts and minds-